CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION – Despite howling winds and unseasonably frigid temperatures in the ‘sunshine state’, United Launch Alliance’s workhorse Atlas V rocket successfully blasted off this morning, Friday, Feb 5, and delivered the final GPS satellite in the IIF series to orbit for the US Air Force.

The ULA Atlas V carried the Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF-12 navigation satellite to orbit as the booster beautifully pierced the Florida skies – thus completing the constellation of next generation GPS IIF satellites that are critical to both military and civilian users on a 24/7 basis.

These GPS IIF satellites incorporate numerous improvements over the initial series of GPS satellites to provide greater accuracy, increased signals and enhanced performance for users.

Today’s launch was the first launch of 2016 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It also marks ULA’s first mission of 2016 and the 60th operational GPS mission to launch on a ULA or heritage rocket. It is also the 104th successful launch since the company was formed in December 2006.

“Congratulations to the ULA, Boeing and Air Force teams on the successful launch of GPS IIF-12,” said Laura Maginnis, ULA vice president, Custom Services, in a statement.

“We began launching the IIF satellites in May 2010 and have appreciated the outstanding teamwork of everyone involved as we have worked together to deliver all 12 IIF satellites. This system provides incredible capabilities to our women and men in uniform while enabling so many technologies that impact all of our daily lives. We are proud to be GPS’s ride to space.”

These GPS satellites are manufactured by Boeing.

“This GPS IIF milestone builds on our 40-plus years of GPS experience and a strong government-Boeing partnership,” said Dan Hart, vice president, Boeing Government Satellite Systems, in a statement.

“We continue investing in GPS innovation while driving down costs, keeping GPS prepared to meet current and future demands.”

Boeing says the GPS IIF-12 will be formally declared operational in approximately one month after completing on-orbit tests.

The GPS constellation is currently comprised of 31 satellites including several still functioning satellites from the inaugural series. Altogether Boeing has delivered 50 GPS satellites to the Air Force.

The Atlas V rocket delivered the GPS IIF-12 satellite to a semi-synchronous circular orbit at an altitude of approximately 11,000 nautical miles above Earth.

The two stage Atlas V launch in the 401 configuration. This includes the first stage powered by the RD AMROSS RD-180 engine and a single engine Centaur upper stage powered by the Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10C-1 engine.

There were no strap on solid rocket motors used for this mission. The payload is encapsulated in a 4-meter diameter payload fairing.

The launcher also utilizes a newly designed suite of avionics, flight software and ground systems. This upgraded command and control system was designed to reduce cost and improve reliability, says ULA.

Starting later in 2017, the Atlas V rocket will power US astronauts back to orbit. They will ascend the newly built crew access tower at pad 41 to board the Boeing-built CST-100 Starliner space taxi bolted atop the Atlas V.

US-made devices (and much of the rest of the world) use the GPS system, while most Russian-made (and a some other) devices use the GLONASS. There’s no reason, really, to double the complexity of the average consumer device so that it can use both, since the respective constellations are always visible from anywhere on Earth at any given time.

The principle you’re working on is certainly sound: while it takes an absolute minimum of three visible satellites to get a 3D location fix, more IS generally better. However, both constellations have enough birds up in enough different orbits that the average user can see 5 – 12 birds at any given time from whichever constellation they happen to be using. This means it’s quite unusual to get an accuracy outside of 20 meters, and the usual 2-4 meters (or better) is usually plenty good for fishing one’s favorite lake, geocaching, or just driving around town.

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Episode 660: Crew Dragon Reaches the Station. What it Took to Replace the Space Shuttle

On Sunday, May 31st, 2020, a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley docked with the International Space Station. This was a tremendous accomplishment for SpaceX and NASA, giving the United States the capability of launching its own astronauts, and no longer relying on its Russian partners.

This was the 5th time that US astronauts went into orbit on a new kind of space vehicle, following in the footsteps of Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and the Space Shuttle.